Academics

Weiss Women share empowering media during their Lean In discussion

Posted on May 9, 2014

Do the arguments made by Sheryl Sandberg in Lean In resonate with students and early career professionals? What does "doing it all" mean to women between the ages of 18 and 25?

Nine fellows of the Weiss Women Leadership Program recently met in the Wallace Library's Scholar's Lab to think through a series of questions based on their reading of Lean In. For example, they considered Sandberg's suggestion that many women "leave before they leave," meaning that they make choices that place family before career long before they have partners and children. The Weiss Women identified a parallel challenge for undergraduate women, in that they sometimes leave demanding classes before giving them a shot because they doubt their ability to balance their workloads later the semester.

Working in collaboration via a Google Doc, participants drafted notes and created a bibliography of empowering media sources, such as Jezebel and The Representation Project, to share with the Wheaton community. The results of their excellent work can be viewed in the white paper.